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But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind (James 1:6, NIV).
Faith holds fast while doubt wavers.
Doubt literally means going back and forth; often it’s not entirely evil or good, but sort of lukewarm, which makes it even more devastating because the semblance of surface righteousness is inwardly besotted with rot. Observers may think, and we may even proclaim this surface righteousness as everything’s fine, but it’s not.
We’re just one strong wind of trial from a collapse; our tempter knows this mocking righteousness, calculating our weakest moment to stir up the storms.
But doubt has three cousins, all rooted in doubt itself …
Foolishness
Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand (Matthew 7:26, ESV).
The word for foolishness in the Greek is “moros,” from which we get our English word “moron.” Sometimes I wish Bible translators wouldn’t soften the rough edges of Greek words but transfer them intact from Greek to English. Perhaps they’re thinking no one would buy a Bible that says, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t do them is a moron.”
Consistent moronic behavior with others thinking, “That person always does dumb things,” is a symptom of doubt. Faith doesn’t waver between good and evil, doesn’t listen to peer pressure, and cares only what God thinks.
Fear
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear (Romans 8:15a, ESV).
The Greek word for “fear” is “phobia.” There are more than 500 named phobias, and each one has been defeated by Jesus. I’m cautious about discussing fear because I want to be compassionate with those suffering from an overwhelming phobia, but through my years of discussing fear with believers, I’m convinced most fears have roots in doubt.
The Apostle John writes that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Doubting a parent’s love or the goodness of God (often arising from a traumatic experience) creates a vacuum into which fear arises. When we cross the line from loving God to doubting God during trials, losing faith comes quickly. When someone says to me, “What about my trials?” I would say to them, “What about Jesus?”
Loving Jesus is our last and only resort to overcoming fear.
Faithlessness
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God (Hebrews 3:12).
There are theologies of doubt, philosophies of doubt, and politics of doubt. They have a similar pattern of questioning and challenging, not for legitimate answers, but questioning and challenging for questioning and challenging’s sake. Satan with Adam and Judas with Jesus — the intent wasn’t improvement but control, both having hidden agendas.
In a culture of faithlessness, the Bible, with its ethics, morals, and purity, gets thrown out with the garbage as too passe and old-fashioned. Faithlessness becomes a lifestyle where good becomes evil and evil good. It isn’t an unintended stumble but a conscientious betrayal against God’s holiness.
Questions
- Do you have positive or negative thoughts about God?
- What phobia needs the freeing power of God’s Spirit?
- Where is repentance needed?
Let’s forsake doubt and its three evil cousins of foolishness, fear, and faithlessness. Faith holds a steady course while doubt waivers.